


Acquiescence

by Unfortunate_Space_Waster



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, Pedophilia, Secret Relationship, a little bit of a slow burn, ill bump up the rating when the sex gets here, uh im not good at tags, very much Maxvid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-29 15:39:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12634089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unfortunate_Space_Waster/pseuds/Unfortunate_Space_Waster
Summary: Max makes a business deal with David. If David gives Max the attention and love he needs, he'll let him carry out his little crush on him. For a person like him, getting an adult to love and care for you is crucial, even if the adult is a pedophile.





	1. Chapter 1

“Um, Max?” David makes an attempt to knock on the fabric of the tent. “Is now a good time to talk?”

Max can almost smell the weakness on him. His posture, shoulders bunched up by his ears, knees that would clack in a cartoon with how much he’s shaking, hands holding himself by the stomach like he might throw up. He looks pale too, is David sick?

“Everyone else is eating and won’t be back for a while so I guess it’s a good time. Not that I want to talk.” Max’s tone bleeds indifference.

“I really think we should. I, um, have something really important to tell you. And I’d be lying if I said keeping this to myself would be better for anyone. I want to,” he glances left, right, swallows, stretching time on, “I want to be completely honest with you so you can make informed choices.”

“Well? Out with it.” Max bites, clapping his book closed and thunking it on the cot. He turns to face David, watch him wither as he tries to form sentences.

“I, um, I have developed… feelings,” he plays with the shirt tied around his neck, “that I know I shouldn’t. For… you.” Hmm, shifting eyes, guarded posture, inability to look at Max, instead, risking quick glances around him like he’s the sun.

“So you’re saying you’re a pedo. For me?” David stiffens at the word. “Oh, you are! You’re a dirty fucking pedophile for a little kid!”

“Max I really wish you would lower your voice,” David whispers, like lowering his own voice will make Max quiet his own.

“What are you going to do? Rape me?”

David almost dry heaves, he has to take a moment to cover his mouth. He sinks to his knees, down to Max’s level. After his heart stops threatening to quit he moves his hand down. He forces himself to look at Max, meet his hard eyes no matter how much he wants to hide in this moment.

“Max I sincerely hope you don’t believe I would ever do anything like that to you. I would never. I would sooner leave camp than hurt you. If I ever,” oh god he’s starting to choke up, “if I ever hurt you I would never forgive myself.”

David reaches his hand out. He means it as a handshake, a pack, an agreement to never ever hurt Max. Max moves back. David is marked. D for David, D for dangerous.

David sobs, curling up on himself close to the ground, almost sobbing on Max’s feet if he didn’t step back. “I promise! I promise I don’t want to hurt you!”

“Then what DO you want David?” Max bites. God, he’s still saying the creeps name. David probably enjoyed that.

David is perplexed by the question. What does he want? He wants Max. He tries to control his sobbing while thinking of how he wants Max. He hasn’t given it much thought.

He wants Max by his side like he usually is, but by choice rather than as a punishment. He wants to hug him, kiss his head. He wants to hold him at night, hug him close as they fall asleep. He wants so many things but knows he can have none.

“I don’t. I don’t know.” He sniffles.

“Do you have anything else to say for yourself?” It comes out sounding like Davids on trial, his last words before he’s convicted. Oh god, he’s a pedophile, he likes kids, he’s sick, sick in the head and should be taken away. Look at him! He’s guilting Max by crying, trying to make him feel sorry so he can lure him in, he’s so sick.

David pulls himself out of the panic attack, saving it for later. “I guess not. But we- we have to talk. How do you feel-”

“There’s nothing left to talk about. I need you to leave.” David gives him the saddest look and oh, his eyes are watering he’s going to cry again. “Leave.” His tone says that if David doesn’t comply he’ll be sorry. Sorrier than he already is?

He gets up off the ground, sulks out of the tent with his tail between his legs. Absolutely pathetic. He’s so nice that he tells his victims he’s a pedo in advance so they can expect it!

Max didn’t notice the negative energy settling into the room. He takes a deep breath and lays down.

What the actual fuck?


	2. Chapter 2

Max spends the night tossing and turning. Trying to figure out what David wants from him. He has to want something, otherwise, he would keep the knowledge of being a literal pedophile to himself. In the morning he gets ready, subconsciously keeping an eye on the opening of the tent.

The way things usually work, all the campers get ready and dressed before getting breakfast. Then they're led to the activity for the day. Five minutes into the activity Max is stationed by Davids side as a punishment so it's easy to keep an eye on him.

This morning, after his coffee, everyone makes their way to the activity. It's arts and crafts, easy but trivial. It's not like Max's parents are going to hang it on the fridge. So he opts to not do anything.

Max watches as Nikki scrounges around for leaves and twigs to glue onto her paper. Neil makes blueprints for some project or another that's been on his mind. David is always within Max's line of sight.

And David is looking at Max too. He's confused, about to call out to Max and ask him to work, maybe work beside him so he can keep an eye on him but... hesitating. Like he's thinking over his words and trying to find the meaning Max would find.

Max looks him dead in the eyes. It's funny, how David is the predator here but wilts under the gaze of a ten-year-old boy. Max grabs a piece of paper and scribbles black bars with his pencil as he watches his friends.

When David walks around to look at the kid's work he pauses by Max's table. Max is bristling, already about to snap for his own safety or for his friends. Watching for signs of lashing out, David takes Max's piece and looks it over.

"I told him it looks like a prison cell." Nikki hardly looks up from her own paper.

"You know," Max smiles but it's more a showing of his teeth, baring them as a warning, "I actually was using David as my inspiration." David walks away, not wanting to stay and answer Nikki's questions, trusting Max to not tell her about the whole... pedophile thing.

\-----

For the rest of the day, Max hovers around Gwen, using her as a shield from interaction with David. In the labeling system of his mind, Gwen is moved from her position of friendship potential (as long as she doesn't talk about sparkly vampires) to the first line of defense.

There's a system put in place. Gwen is on the outside, good at keeping David at bay. With so many egregious campers they have to split up and cover ground. Neil is close to Max, good at diverting Davids attention with arguments or discussions. Nikki is close by too, Max trusts her to turn feral if the situation calls. The last line of defense is Max himself. He remains vigilant, on guard for whatever David wants from him.

It works well, terrific in fact. That is until his defense breaks down to go to bed.

Max is heading back to his tent, Neil has already gotten there and Nikki lagging behind to go to the bathroom before sleep. David strikes right when Max is unprotected.

"Hey, Max?" David stays standing, doesn't touch Max but the words feel assault enough already. "We need to have another talk. Mind coming to the councilors cabin?"

"What, don't want the whole camp to hear about how you're a-"

"Yes! Could you please keep it down?" David starts walking in the direction of the cabin, trusting Max to follow.

For a moment Max thinks about staying, going into his tent. He remembers the tears, the whole waterworks that David fired off though and hesitantly falls in line behind him.

David leads him inside, to a room in the cabin that Max assumes is the living room. There's an old minuscule TV, one that Max vaguely connects to one of his childhood. He wonders if David has Pocahontas on VHS.

"So what do you have to say now?" Max starts his tone like ice. "Get to the point, I'm tired."

"You've been treating me like an enemy like I'd hurt you," David says, giving a stunning rendition of someone who's been betrayed.

Max almost laughs in his face. "David, don't you get it? There's no way you can throw around the fact that you're attracted to kids without having them act differently toward you. You've made yourself the enemy, not me. When you gave me your little confession you turned yourself into a threat, David. Do you understand that?"

David's eyes rest on the floor, his boot tips trace patterns in the rug. He says nothing.

"Did you expect me to give you myself on a silver platter? Did you expect me to put this on the same level of importance as what you serve for dinner? This is kind of a big deal David! How am I supposed to trust you?" His voice falls away at the words he didn't fully mean to say aloud.

David feels his stomach churn, oh here comes dinner. He swallows a few times. God, he's sick. Look at what he's putting this kid though. Max is probably so distraught over this. David imagines the kind of stress he's putting on Max, the weight he has to carry.

"You don't," David says flatly. He crouched down on Max's level, pulls out his phone, turns it towards Max and offers him it. "Did you want to call your parents or the police?" David resigns himself so easily.

Max pauses. The police? He doesn't want the police, that's such a large action. What if they don't believe him? The word of a ten-year-old, with no witnesses? Besides, Davids promised not to hurt him. Before David was a pedophile, Max would have trusted his word. Now he's hesitant.

"You're not going to hurt me?" Max asks.

David lets out a shaky breath. "I swear. On anything you want. I don't want to hurt you, Max."

Max sticks out his hand. "Swear on my life." As soon as he says it, it feels stupid. So childish to assume that he's the only kid David wants.

"Okay. I swear on your life I will never hurt you." David takes Max's small hand in his own and they shake on it. David looks at their interlocked hands almost longingly. He sighs, resting his forehead on their hands and closing his eyes.

Max watches, waiting for David to break his promise. He tugs lightly on his hand, his signal for David to let go.

"You have to sleep. Did you want me to walk you to your tent?" David offers, raising his head so he can look into Max's intense eyes.

"I'm fine."

David nods. "Alright. Goodnight then, Max. Sweet dreams." He gives Max's hand a kiss, just a light brushing of his lips against his skin, before letting him go. He watches as Max shoves his hands in his jacket pocket and walks out.


	3. Chapter 3

They form a new habit together over the next month or so. Max, for the most part, stays the same, though he does follow Gwen around instead of David and is always on some form of watch for him. David looks like he's suffering more outwardly. He looks like he hasn't been sleeping well, and is much more jumpy than usual.

Max has moved past the anger. He no longer growls when David gets near him. He doesn't lash out with hurtful remarks when David pulls him here and there for more talks. He's mostly... quiet.

Of course, he's still mad, expresses it with crossed arms and tapping toes, but he isn't malicious with his words. He doesn't examine David for weak points so much as he looks at David as a whole.

In a weird sense, he can almost understand Davids fear. Max could call the cops at any moment, could tell Gwen that he's a fucking pedophile. He can almost understand how he must feel hunted.

This is where he starts sliding on his resolve. Because now he has a weakness. He polices it, makes sure that David is unaware of the chink in his armor. But when he learns that David is too stupid to figure it out anyways, he lets his defenses slide.

After a while, things sort of go back to normal. Nikki leads the group back to David, he knows more about the outdoors. David is overjoyed to see the three of them hovering again. It's quite astounding, the effect that Max has on David. Sensing that he's no longer being "punished" he regains his luminescent attitude. Max can see how he controls the situation now, and he stops being afraid of David. He isn't afraid of anything he can control.

David has run out of things to say, reasons to have private talks with Max. Max almost misses them. They became somewhat of a constant. Every now and then, David asking Max if he would like to step aside for a quick chat. It felt almost like stolen time, they could be found at any moment. It gave Max that little thrill of risk.

So he calls David aside.

They're in the cafeteria, campers eating breakfast and generally trying to wake up for the day. Max grabs a cup of coffee and tells Neil and Nikki that he has something to take care of before going to David.

David looks up from his clipboard, lists of camp activities he's trying to organize written down in his careful handwriting. "Oh, Max! Good morning! Do you need anything?"

Max almost loses his nerve. Almost. "Yea, we're going outside for a quick chat." Max nurses his coffee and leads the way to the door, trusting David to follow.

Once outside Max takes a moment to look David over. His posture is alright, straight back, shoulders a bit tense but not riding up to his ears. His face wears a look of concern. He looks... fine. Why did Max call him out here, what was he thinking?

"Is there something wrong, Max?"

Being blunt is always best. Max says the first thing that comes to mind. "Do you still like me? You know what I mean, don't try and pull the "of course, I like all the campers!" kinda shit."

Not the best opening line. David goes rigid. "Oh, Max. I thought we had moved past this."

"So you don't like me anymore!" Max spits accusingly. How could he kid himself? He thought David loved him, HA. He's unlovable, a little shit, no wonder David lost interest. He glares over the rim of his cup as he takes a long sip to soothe his nerves. He knew this would happen anyways.

"No, I do!" David assures, "I just thought you wanted to go back to the way things were... before."

Max growls. Why does this have to be so complicated? "Who cares about that? What do you want from me? God, just fucking tell me already!"

"Max I don't want anything from you, especially if you don't want to give it. I wish you'd get over this fascination with what I want from you." David harrumphs and crosses his arms.

"Then why do you like me?" Max can hear how stupid this conversation is. It sounds like a squabble between two kids, which it might as well have been.

"I just do Max. I can't explain it. Trust me, I know that this is hard for you if I could stop it, I would." David crouches down, gives this big pleading look to Max. He cocks his head to the side and offers his hand.

Max looks at David's hand, inspects it. "What's that for?"

"I promise to do my best to get over this?" David offers.

"Then no."

"No?" David's face scrunches in confusion. "Do you... not _want_ me to get over this?" His hand retracts.

"No you fucking idiot," Max bites, "why would I want that?"

"Why _wouldn't_ you?"

"Listen. You may be a super annoyingly positive piece of shit, but you're the only adult who gives a single flying fuck about me. I'm thinking, I get something out of this, you get something out of this, no one gets hurt and everything is fine."

David sees how Max has changed the situation now. He's admitted that he, at least partially, is up for something to transpire. A relationship? No, no, too much, too fast. But something, Max wants something.

"Don't short circuit on me." Max takes the last sip of his coffee. "And don't," he adds, seeing David face morph into something impossibly happy, "hug me."

Max watches as Davids body coils tight, then relaxes though hand flaps and jubilant laughter. It's almost sad, the best he can do is this huge man-child. Max rolls his eyes. David is his man-child now. "I'm leaving before you do something else weird." He announces, turning to go back into the mess hall.

He hears David scramble to his feet and watches him pull open the door for him. "How chivalrous of you," Max grumbles, smearing a hand across his face.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey btw I'm looking for a beta to read and give feedback on chapters before I post them! If you're interested I have a tumblr at unfortunate-space-waster !! Feel free to send me a message and we can talk for a bit and hopefully I'll get a beta :00  
> Alright, with that out of the way, on with the chapter!

"Gwen? If I know someone with... home issues... how do I let them know I'm here for them without telling them all the time?" David almost whispers, keeping his head laser-focused on the tiny TV.

It's night time, all the campers have gone to bed and David and Gwen perform their usual nightly routine of watching some old VHS's on the quaint little TV in the living room.

She hums for a second, shifting her position on the couch so she's more comfortable. "Well in Max's case-"

David squawks. "Who said anything about Max?"

"Uh, you did? Aren't you talking about him?" Gwen turns to him, confused. She takes David's fidgets and awkward silence as a yes. "Anyways... with Max, I'd give him positive attention," remembering the person she's talking to, she adds, "subtle positive attention. Don't drown him. Pay attention to him and listen when he talks, compromise with him sometimes. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it."

"Really? Thank you, Gwen. CBFL's?"

"CBFL's," Gwen affirms. "I get it, you know? Wanting to help the little shit. That's why I got this worthless psych degree. You can't save all of them but sometimes, /sometimes/ you can help them."

"Yeah, exactly." David thinks of how everything he's doing will no doubt leave Max worse off than if he left him alone. David thinks of what a terrible person he is for even considering pursuing this deal.

Gwen yawns. "Alright, I think I'm gonna sleep now. Night, David."

"Good night, Gwen." David mirrors her yawn as he wraps his blanket tighter around him and gets up to turn off the TV.

He drops the blanket off in the bedroom before heading to the bathroom for his pre-sleep procedure. Go to the bathroom, brush his teeth, wash his face on alternating nights. Once done with that he returns to his bed and snuggles up to his log before falling asleep.

\-----

In the morning David tries to follow Gwen's advice. He lets Max be a critic in Preston's play instead of forcing him to perform. He listens when Max complains about how all the actors are shit and can't learn their lines in an hour. Tells him he did a very good job at being a critic and doesn't make a fuss about him not eating anything at lunch.

Max is almost confused. Or rather, he would be confused if he didn't already have an idea of what was going on. It's obvious that David is being nice to him so that he can get something later.

Whatever, he expected it anyways. At dinner, Max leads the group to sit by David, not outright questioned but it does earn him a look or two.

He plays a game with David, the same one he would play at home sometimes when the CPS lady would come by. Start by messing around with his food, pushing it from one side of the tray to the other. Maybe fling some at someone if you can get away with it.

"Max, you know that food is for eating and not for playing with." David scolds.

Max takes one bite, then turns to talk to Nikki.

"Max, you haven't eaten anything!"

He turns back around and takes another bite. He offers the fork to David, who urges him to eat more. He gives the fork to David anyways. David sighs and piles a bite onto the fork before offering it back to Max.

Max has to hold back a laugh. "Are you treating me like a toddler, David? I don't need you to spoon feed me." He turns away in mock anger.

"Max, please. You handed me the fork, would you take it back?"

Max shakes his head.

Neil is timing how fast Nikki can eat her food.

"Please?"

Max turns back around with a harrumph and takes the fork back from David. "Open."

"I don't under-" Max shoves the fork into his mouth. It's funny, he almost chokes on it. Quickly, Max darts farther away from David and out of arms reach.

David manages to swallow the food, coughing a bit. He takes a sip from his glass of water and watches Max come back once the threat of punishment has passed.

Max eats a few more bites of dinner before deciding he's done and pushing the tray to the middle of the table. Max turns away from David to watch Neil and Nikki. David doesn't pester him to eat more, and when dinner time is up he takes Max's tray back to the kitchen for him.

When Max has done his nightly routine of getting ready for bed he lays down and inspects the top of the tent. He thinks about the deal he made with David. David is certainly keeping up his end with flying colors, Max wonders when he'll be asked to perform. He tries to imagine how the fuck David can keep his promise to not hurt him and still get what he wants.

Then, having tuckered himself out, he sleeps.


End file.
